Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Class-warfare . . . . .

It is one of the great ironies of modern times that the rightwing has managed convince so many people that 'class-warfare' is an antiquated notion from a past age, when actually class-warfare is exactly what the right has been waging for a generation, and continue to wage everyday. Of course, the right has always actively pursued a war against the working-class and the most vulnerable of society, and they have usually done so while trying to convince people that they are really only acting in the interest of society at large. But while the right has only ever had the interest of the rich and powerful in their sights, there was a time when a great number of people knew what was going on. Class-warfare was often openly waged in the streets and in the workplaces. However, today class-warfare is waged with spin-doctors, press-releases, back to work legislation, pension-gutting legislation, and cleverly-written editorials. Since the advent of globalization in particular, the right has been much more successful in convincing people that it is just circumstances which have proscribed the policies that they pursue rather than these policies being a concerted effort to weaken the working-class, destroy unions, weaken democracy, destroy pensions, undermine social programs, impoverish the majority, all while radically increasing the wealth of the richest. This is class-warfare on a grand-scale, undertaken with ever-increasing brain-washing power of a concentrated media owned and controlled by the richest one percent. A small group of people own more wealth than the lower half of society, they live in multi-million dollar mansions, drive cars worth more many people earn in a decade of work, they vacation in hotel-rooms that cost thousands of dollars a night, they have private planes and luxury yachts, and they make sure that their servants are elected to office and that they propagate the notion that this is just the 'natural' order, and the way things 'must' be. This is the worst kind of class-warfare, the kind that people are helping to wage on themselves through political ignorance and wilful apathy, reaffirmed by a ruthless political class.

Next time someone tells you that class-warfare is out of date, tell them that the greatest warriors are actively running their government, making sure that the only class with money and power is their class, and they have given all of your money and resources to a handful of super-rich who are gradually turning you into wilful slaves.